Glacier FarmMedia | MarketsFarm – Manitoba’s dry bean harvest was only one-quarter complete as of Sept. 17, according to the province’s weekly crop report. However, yields for the crop vary wildly.
Dennis Lange, pulse specialist for the Manitoba government, said he is expecting an average yield of just under 1,700 pounds per acre for dry beans. Dry bean fields have been producing as low as 500 lbs./ac. to as high as 3,500, according to the report.
Excess rain and root rot in some parts of Manitoba during the growing season have reduced dry bean yields, said Lange.
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“With most crops this year, there’s quite a range from one farm to the next. It depends on what the summer was like and how much rainfall you got,” he explained. “The dry bean growers that (saw rain) and had 1,500 to 2,000 lbs./ac. are going to be very happy with what they’ve got.”
As of Sept. 17, the central region was the only one in Manitoba where dry beans were harvested. However, just two days earlier, the communities of Morden and Winkler received 40 to 90 millimetres of rain, delaying harvest and soaking crops.
“The dry beans that are undercut and laying on the ground (are) going to have some quality losses in areas that had that excessive moisture. We’ll have to wait and see though what it’s actually going to look like until we get some good dry weather,” Lange said.
Manitoba’s field pea harvest was 99 per cent complete as of Sept. 17, with only a few fields left to be combined in the northwest region. Field pea yields in the region were on the higher end provincewide at 60 to 65 bushels per acre. In the central region, most waterlogged pea fields saw yields between 30 to 65 bu./ac., with others as low as 20.
“We had some pretty good yields, but we didn’t see the big numbers we’ve seen in previous years where we’ve seen 70 to 80 bushels (per acre),” Lange said. “I think in the end we’re going to (average) around 40 bu./ac.”
When this year’s harvest is complete, he says growers will immediately start planning for next season.
“Once you get into the latter parts of September and into October, you’re applying fertilizer and preparing the land for next year to grow dry beans. Growers are looking at soil testing, so they know what to apply for next year’s bean crop and the rest of the fall is going to be marketing and seeing where prices go from there,” Lange explained.
